Shaft seal



Sept 24,1946. o.JAcoB sr-:N l v 2,408,315

SHAFT SEAL Filed 0st, 4, 1943 1E; l- '1,6 l 7 sie l Y v v v a .32 [.5 v

v \26 v.Q7 303' 25 20 la 25 l `l 35 l l2 ATTORNEYS l Patented Sept.24,194e 2,408,315

SHAFT SEAL Oystein Jacobsen, Montgomery County, Ohio, as-

. signor to The Duriron Company, Inc.,

Dayton,

Ohio, a corporation of New York 1943, Serial No, 504,825

2 Claims. f (Cl. 286-7) Application october 4 The present invention relates to centrifugal pumps, and more particularly to the seals of those pumps which are designed to operate at considerable velocities and adapted to handle corrosive fluids.

When employing acid-containing solution, all parts of the pump which come into contact with the corrosive liquid are usually fabricated of non-attackalble metal such as silicon iron. Metal of this character is so hard that it is practically unmachineable. The remaining parts of the pump and associated structure are usually made of machineable metal such as wrought iron or steel, which -isreadily susceptible to attack by acid so that considerable precaution must be exercised to prevent the acid from reaching theseparts.

It has been proposed heretofore to employ -for -an effective seal `a Vgraphite member which is pressed against a rotating part of the shaft at a suitable position in order to prevent longitudinal and radial creepage of the acid which might otherwise reach the bearings in which the shaft is journaled. Inasmuch as there is relative movement between. the seal member and the shaft and other rotating parts 'the seal member becomes worn over a period of time and often this wear is not uniform so that even when adequate pressure is applied to the seal member a limited but important leakage may take place which might impair the operation of the structure as a whole. It will be understood that in pumps of this character extremely high pressures are often imparted to the liquid and even the smallest irregularity at the bearing surface may permit suicient leakage to cause considerable damage.

It has been custimary in the past, when the Contact surface between the seal member and the rotating part become uneven or irregular, to disassemble the entire seal structure and to replace the sealing member with a new element by which the ieloseness of t and regularity of sur- .face could be obtained. However this discardl ing .of the used seal member entails considerable expense which can be avoided by the teachings of the present invention.

The primary object of the invention is toprovide a seal structure for centrifugal pumps in which the sealing member offersl considerably longer operating life than similar devices of the prior art.

Another cib-ject is to simplify the design and construction of the seal member to the extent that it may-be readily vfabricated and is of symtheepump for conveying an Vtion for .clearness l:main shaft lil.

on an over-hanging metrical shape so as to lend itself to ease of as'- sembly within the seal structure as a whole.

Other objects and features will be apparent as the following specification is perused in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure l represents a longitudinal fragmentary section of the improved seal and embodying the principles of the present invention. In this gure the shaftand also the connecting bolts and the locating pin are shown in eleva- This view is taken along line I--l in Figure 42.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the structure shown in Figure 1, this view being taken approximately along the line 2-2 in Figure l.

i Referring to the drawing, reference character I designates in general an impeller of the closed or shrouded type; The impeller may comprise, in part, a plurality of radially extending blades 2 equidistantly disposed about the web 3 of a hub 4. The blades 2 are contained between the opposite walls 5 ofthe shroud and the entire impeller assemblage is adapted to rotate within a pump casing E of volute configuration. As shown in Figure l the inner surface 1 of the casing 6 at one side is given an inwardly tapered or conical shape and the adjacent portion of the impeller shroud or wall is provided with a horizontally extending projection B which almost reaches the surface l." This annular projection is for the purpose of preventing undue leakage of the liquid along the inner left hand wall of the pump casing, particularly when the pump is at rest although it will be understood that a small but important amount of leakage mayiind its way throgh the minute space between the wall 'l and the projection 8 and whichleakage, unless Aeventually prevented', might cause creepage along the shaft. Such liquid in time would reach the bearings on which the shaft is mounted and attack the metal of these bearings.

The subject rmatter of the present invention is concerned primarily with an improved sealing structure which prevents that part of the liquid which might flow past the annular projection 8-from creep-ing along the shaft.

The hub-4 of the impeller is secured by keying (not shown) to a turned down extension 9 of the The latter is usually mounted y Y journal structure which may be constituted of two or more sets of ball bearings and inwhich the inner ball bearing is positioned notk far from the impeller. may be formed integral with the shaft I0 and positionedA betweenv the shaft portions 9 and Ii) A collar Ilas shown but if desired the collar may be fabricated separate from the shaft and swetted or otherwise secured to the shaft at the proper position. The shaft portion 9 may terminate in a relatively large threaded stud I 2 which receives an impeller nut I3 for forcing the impeller against the collar I l.

The casing S -at the inner side is provided with a round opening I4 which just clears the collar il. The casing is extended longitudinally to form a tubular portion I5 provided at its left hand end with a hump shaped enlargement I6. There is an annular recess I l counter-bored from the outer end of the tubular portion, .this recess being o f such depth as to ing rings I8 which may be formed of .synthetic rubber or other suitable material. It has been found that substances sold under the vnames of neoprene, Perbunan, and Thiokol are satisfactory for this purpose. The packing rings are held in position within the recess il' by a rectangular gland plate It provided Vwith an inwardly extending hub portion 2i?. The latter has a diametral size slightly less than that of the recess i-'i so that the hub may enter the re cess for a short distance. adapted to apply longitudinal pressure to the rings 'i3 as can be seen in the drawing. Cornpressional stress -is exercised at the packing rings through the plate I9 by means of a split clamp plate 2I to which the gland plate i9 is bolted at four positions indicated at 22. The clamping plate 2I is provided with a plurality of horizontally disposed lugs 23 which are adapted to be bolted together as indicated at 24 in Figure 2. This clamp plate has a round opening of such shape as to conform to the humped surface 'it of the tubular portion I 5 so that when the bolts 26 are tightened the parts of the clamped plate are held together as a single structure about the portion i5. Thus by tightening the bolts 22, the gland plate I 9 is caused to move to the right (Figure l) to apply a compression effect on vthe packing rings I8. This compression causes the packing rings to contact more tightly with the surfaces immediately adjacent the rings asis well understood in the art.

An annular seal member 25 of graphite surrounds 'the shaft I'ii and is contained within the Thus, the plate is packing rings IS so that the latter bear against .ff

the outer surface of the member. This sealing element is provided with an annular recess 25 at each end and is adapted `to bear against the left hand surface of the collar II. In order to assure a fairly close contact between the sealing i member 25 and the collar II the sealing member is held longitudinally in its position by means of a circular retaining plate 27. This plate has an inner diameter considerably larger than the size of the shaft il? so as to eliminate friction and at the right hand end is provided with a longitudinally extending nange portion 28 Which is received by the left hand annular recess of the seal member 25. The plate 2l is provided with a cylindrical portion 29 of larger diameter and which portion is adapted to receive a plurality of countersunk openings t@ in which compression springs 3l are inserted. These springs have a normal length somewhat greater than the depth of the openings 3G so as to project beyond the outer edge of the enlarged portion 29. It is apparent, that the inner surface of the gland plate I9 must be provided with a curved portion, indicated at 3Ia, which will clear the outside surface of the enlarged portion 29 of the retaining-plate. The inreceive a pair of pack- 1 the bolts contact pressure between the seal member 25 4 nermost diameter of the gland plate I9 is slightly larger than the seal member 25 so as to constitute an inwardly extending projection which is received by the recess Il. The springs are held in position, preferably under pressure, by means of a cover member Y32 which takes generally a circular shape except for a pair of oppositely disposed vWin-g portions '33 ,(see Figure 2). These wing portions are provided With openings for receiving a pair of bolts 34 threaded into the gland plate I9. The interior diameter of the cover plate 32 is usually large enough to clear the adjacent circumferential surface of the retaining plate v2l so that no friction at this point is encountered. Thus by tightening the bolts 34 the cover plate 32 may be moved to the right and the compression of the springs 32 is increased. Inasrnueh as the cover plate is effectively secured to 'the clamp plate 2I through the bolts 34 and 22 any longitudinal movement of the cover plate with respect jto the shaft II) `Will apply'additional pressure against `the springs -3I which in turn forces the seal ring L25 to the right and thereby increases the Contact pressure between this ring or member and the shaft collar I I.

It is therefore apparent that the pressure on vthe packing rings I 8 may be controlled or adjusted by taking up on the bolts 22, thus increasing the contact pressure around the outer surface of the seal member 25 and moreover, tightening L24 serves effectively to increase the and the collar I-I. Consequently, any acid-containing liquid ywhich iiows toward the center of the casing wall 6 and along the interior conical surface will find -all passageways around the outer circular surface of the seal member 25 and across the flat inner `end of the `seal member blocked to fluid creepage so that the shaft IS remains completely free of the metal-attacking fluid.

It will be understood .that in operation the shaft il) is rotated usually `by an'eleotric motor (not shown) :and fluid is caused toenter the pump at the center vof the impeller i. e. about the impeller nut -ILS .and this fluid is given an outward centrifugal .movement .by the blades or varies and `is collected within a volute chamber (not shown) which constitutes the pressure outlet. Thus all of the fluid within the pump is under fairly high pressure and this pressure tends to force a small portion of the fluid into any available space at therearof the impeller and unless perfect .sealing is effected such yfluid might nd its way into the bearings of theshaft. However, due tothe :presence of the sealing member 25 and the packing rings I8 a completely `tight yseal is provided Whichrkeeps the .shaft entirely free of the liquid regardless of the vamount of pressure imparted to the vliquid by the ,impellen While a limited .amount of precession of the .member 25 is permissible, in general Iprefer that this member shall bev fixed in space. For this purpose, there may be provided a locating pin 35 which is received .by an opening drilled through the cover plate 32, the retaining plate 2T, vinto the graphite member'25 as seen 'in Figure '1.

,It is apparent that there isirelative motion between .the seal .member 25 and the shaft collar 'I;I and Ynotwithstanding the fact that this member is made of graphite, a self-lubricant, a certain amount of wear 4at the rotating surface is bound to be present. The Aeffect of rthis wear might `not be altogether uniform, for example, ridges-or grooves might ybe 'formed inthe Vgraphthreaded over ite sealing member due to some physical peculiarity of the collar l l. Inasmuch as these ridges or other irregularities increase as the pump continues to operate the effectiveness of the seal might be impaired. lt has been customary heretofore in such a case to dismantle the entire seal structure by removing the bolts 34 or rather their nuts and loosening up on the bolts 22 at which time the seal member 25 may be removed from its position. A new seal member was thereafter provided to replace the old element after which the bolting operation was performed in the reverse order.` However, I have found that it is unnecessary Yto discard the faulty seal member 25 under such circumstances and in this connection, the member is given a symmetrical shape as can be readily seen on the drawing. Thus the recesses 26 at both ends have the same depth and outer diameters so as to provide end extensions of the same length and size. In the case of wear as explained above it would simply be necessary to remove the bolts 34 and loosen the bolts 22 at which time the ring 25 could be removed from the shaft, assuming that the shaft itself may be readily disconnected from its bearings as is usually the case. The member is then the shaft but in the reverse position so that the end of the member which had been located at the left hand side is now positioned` in abutting relation with respect to the collar Il. Thus, asy the bolts 22 and 34 are applied, complete and tight contact is again established between the right hand end of the seal member 25 and the left hand annular surfaceV of the collar` Il. The pitted or. other irregularly shaped surface of the seal member is now positioned at the left hand end thereof but it will be noted that no sealing effect is necessary at this point since the longitudinal pressure is exerted on the seal member only at the left hand annular recess 25.

It is therefore apparent that the seal member 25 is provided initially with two end seal surfaces the second one of which may be used when the first becomes pitted or otherwise centains irregularities. To that extent the present invention contemplates the use of a seal member which gives at least twice thel wear of such member if only one sealing surface thereon were available. By providing a symmetrical conguration vfor the seal member, the molding and machine work necessary for fabricating the member is greatly simplified since the recesses 26 are of the same depth andvdimension and moreover, the workhave to use care in assembling the on the shaft as both ends are exman does not seal member actlyalike.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. `A seal for a high pressure fluid pump having a casing and a pump shaft, a collar on said shaft, a sealing ring surrounding the shaft and abutting said collar, said sealing ring being provided with annular recesses at ropposite edges thereof immediately adjacent the shaft thereby providing a reduced surface area abutting said collar at a point spaced from said shaft, means for applying longitudinal pressure to said sealing ring, and simultaneously preventing rotation of said ring, said means including a plate loosely surrounding the shaft and adjustably secured to said casing, said plate having an annular projection which extends into the recess of the sealing ring at the end remotenrom the shaft collar in contact therewith to apply the longitudinal pressure to said sealing ring and a pin extending from said plate endwise into said sealing ring.

2. A seal for a high pressure fluid pump hav.- ing a casing and a pump shaft, a collar on said shaft, a sealing ring surrounding theshaft land abutting said collar, said sealing ring being provided with annular recesses at opposite edges thereof immediately adjacent the shaft thereby providing a reduced surface area abutting said collar at a point spaced from said shaft, means for applying longitudinal pressure to said sealing ring, and simultaneously preventing rotation of said ring, said means including a plate loosely surrounding the shaft and adjustably secured to said casing, said plate havingl an annular proi' jection which extends into the recess of the sealing ring at the end remote from the shaft collar in contact therewith to apply the longitudinal pressure to said sealing ring and a pin extending from said plate endwise into said sealing ring, said last mentioned plate being divided into two parts separated by a pluraltiy of longitudinally extending compression springs whereby when the position of one of the parts is adjusted with respect to the casing, the springs are placed under greater compression to force the other part of the plate with greater strength toward the sealing ring whereby the pressure between the sealing ring and the collar is increased.

OYSTEIN JACOBSEN.v 

